OF SIX MEDIEVAL WOMEN 



for Jean, Due de Berri, a brother of the King, 

 some idea of what this old residence of the 

 Louvre was like. In this miniature we see 

 represented a square grim castle, with' a large 

 tower at each corner and narrow slits for 

 windows, suggestive more of a place of refuge 

 in time of war and tumult than the home of a 

 peace-loving, enlightened king. When Charles 

 determined to beautify this sombre structure, 

 statues were set up without and tapestries hung 

 within. One of the towers was fitted up for the 

 library, panelled with rare woods and furnished 

 with some thirty small chandeliers and a large 

 central silver lamp, kept lighted both night and 

 day so that work could go on at all hours. In 

 the courtyard an outside circular staircase (one 

 of the earliest, if not the earliest, of the kind) 

 was added to give, as was said, a note of gaiety. 

 But the idea of gaiety seems somewhat ironical 

 when we learn that as it was difficult to get a 

 sufficient number of large slabs quarried quickly, 

 headstones from the cemetery of the Holy 

 Innocents were taken for the purpose ! 



Christine, as a child, showed an extra- 

 ordinary capacity for learning, and this her 

 father zealously fostered and developed. At 

 the age of fifteen she married, and married for 

 love, the King's notary and secretary, Etienne 

 de Castel, a gentleman of Picardy. Her happi- 

 ness and well-being seemed assured, but Fortune, 

 whose wheel is ever revolving, though some- 

 times so slowly as to lull us into forgetfulness, 



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